Monday, August 14, 2006

Fauxtography

Fauxtography describes images that have been edited (often with Photoship, GIMP or other image manipulation software) to increase their dramatic or emotive impact. In fauxtograpy, the changes usually are made to promote a particular political worldview or ideology.

The term entered the discusssion online last week after a photographer working for the Reuters news agency was found to have edited images depicting civilian casualties in Lebanon. While the stringer was no longer employed by Reuters by the end of the week, the episode emphasizes the challenges that newspapers and broadcasters face in vetting digital images and video from war zones or other controversial or highly partisan arenas -- and the near-instantaneous ability of the blogosphere to identify problematic images. The editing was brought to light by blogger Charles Johnson, proprietor of Little Green Footballs. Johnson is credited with coining the term "fauxtography."